Rioters Should Take Note That Use Of Economic Clout Much More Effective

COMMENTARY

December 8, 1990|By KEITH A. OWENS, Editorial Writer

``We`re looking for justice. We want justice. The other people, the black people, this is how they did it and it worked.``

-- Yvette Diaz, a 17-year-old Puerto Rican Miami resident

She said this on Monday night during the brief riot that took place in a predominantly Hispanic Miami neighborhood. The riot happened after six Miami police officers were acquitted in the beating death of a Puerto Rican drug dealer.

Riots don`t work, Yvette. No matter how understandable the rage of a community may be, the fact is that riots simply don`t work.

Do they attract a lot of press attention? Yes. Do they provide emotional release? For a handful of people for a short period of time. After the emotional high wears off, the community is left with nothing but ashes, broken buildings and empty promises from politicians.

The politicians usually say how shocked they are at the amount of destruction, then swear they had no idea the neighborhood was so upset about being dirt poor and living on the edge.

Eventually, they program their lips on automatic pilot and begin saying things like, ``I promise you this unfortunate tragedy will mark the beginning of a new era of cooperation between City Hall and the good people of (name your ghetto here).``

Or, if it`s a slightly less tolerant politician, he or she might say something like, ``Those folks down there are nothing but a bunch of hoodlums and thugs, and if they think for one minute they`re going to bully our fine city into a crisis of conscience, then they`ve got another think coming. Send in the tanks, Jack.``

Or they say nothing at all.

Any way you cut it, the community ends up the loser. Just ask Detroit, or what`s left of it. Or Watts. Or New Jersey.

Or Liberty City. Known throughout the country as a riot-prone area, the predominantly African-American community has yet to reap more than a few dried bits of fruit from the seeds of its own self-destructive riots. Take a look at some figures.

Since 1980, the year of the McDuffie riot, the percentage of blacks in Dade County has grown by 24.3 percent. The percentage of black registered voters has grown by 4.9 percent.

The level of black unemployment has grown from 9.3 percent to somewhere between 13 percent and 35 percent, depending on how the figures are determined. A large percentage of those employed are working in low-level service jobs such as maids and kitchen workers. There are only a handful of black elected officials.

Ten years ago, Dade received about $76 million in federal dollars for job- training programs. By 1988, that amount had shriveled to $16 million. Liberty City is still poor.

Does this sound like the riots worked, Yvette?

If so, then maybe you can explain the Miami convention boycott. If riots are such wonderfully effective vehicles for positive social change, why do you think so many of Miami`s influential African-Americans decided on an economic boycott as the best way to extract an apology from city officials for the way Nelson Mandela was snubbed during his visit there? Why didn`t they just set everything on fire?

Because they know it doesn`t work. The boycott, however, has cost the tourism business an estimated $5.4 million. Organizers have also produced a 14-minute video that compares Dade County`s treatment of blacks to Selma, Ala., in the 1960s. They plan on sending the video to convention planners, foreign dignitaries and sports moguls, which could eventually cost the city many more millions. Talk about swinging a big stick.

In Broward County, the Broward chapter of the NAACP started its second annual Black Dollar Days last Saturday. The purpose is to flex a little black economic muscle by showing the local business community how much spending power the black community has.

Blacks are supposed to buy their purchases with either Susan B. Anthony dollar coins or two-dollar bills until Jan. 21, after which there will be an announcement declaring the campaign`s level of success. The hoped-for outcome is to pressure companies into hiring and promoting more black workers by waving money in front of their faces.

This is a positive first step, although plans should be made for an even more direct second step.

During the recent ``Conference on Self,`` where the Broward black community came together to discuss solutions to their problems, an excellent suggestion was made to have the black churches come together and decide on one bank (maybe two or three) with which to do business. All those Sunday offerings, which must register way up there in the high thousands of dollars each week, being dropped into several targeted accounts -- on one condition: The banks will be expected to provide reciprocal economic support to the black community such as home loans and loans to black businesses.

It`s kind of like how the rich folks do it. I let you draw interest on my $1 million so you can loan me $10 million later on. I`m good for it. Deal? Great. Have your people call my people and we`ll do lunch. Ciao.

Letting people know you have clout is fine, but sooner or later you gotta use it.